Late May or early June of 2015 I bought several....less than but almost 10, 3 gal Dunstans at a Walmart that had them left over for $6 or $7 bucks a piece. Somebody had mentioned online that they were marked down and available and I drove close to 2 hours each way to get them. Of course it was very late to be planting them, and I was not in a position to give them any attention after planting. Almost 10 years later, 2 of them are still alive. One of them is under 10' tall and hasn't done much....at this point I guess it probably never will. The other exploded and is doing great, must be close to 30' tall.
The reason I got them is that a state forester pointed out that there was a huge chinese chestnut on my property, the biggest he had ever seen. However, most of the nuts were empty shells because they need a second tree to pollinate well. So I got the Dunstans to help polinate eventually. A year after my planted them, half of the multistemed chinese chestunt blew down. There was an old home place in the vincinty, the house long gone, but somebody must have planted it as an ornamental 100 years ago.
I planted some chinese chestnut seedlings the following year and they are coming along but not near as big as the one Dunstan. That one tree made the cost and effort of getting them worth it.
The reason I got them is that a state forester pointed out that there was a huge chinese chestnut on my property, the biggest he had ever seen. However, most of the nuts were empty shells because they need a second tree to pollinate well. So I got the Dunstans to help polinate eventually. A year after my planted them, half of the multistemed chinese chestunt blew down. There was an old home place in the vincinty, the house long gone, but somebody must have planted it as an ornamental 100 years ago.
I planted some chinese chestnut seedlings the following year and they are coming along but not near as big as the one Dunstan. That one tree made the cost and effort of getting them worth it.
